Your guide to all things prospect, courtesy of Jonathan Mayo

AFL Star of the Day

I’m sitting here watching rain fall in Pittsburgh, jealous of Lisa being in Arizona for the start of the Fall League. So I thought I’d try to get over myself by blogging a bit about Opening Day action. During the course of the AFL season, I’m going to try to pick a Star of the Day every day. Luckily for me, the choice for Opening Day was fairly obvious.

Rockies OF prospect Matt Miller certainly got off to a good start for the Grand Canyon Rafters in their 12-6 victory over the Peoria Javelinas. Miller went 3-for-5 with a home run — a grand slam, to be precise — and 6 RBIs. If you clear the bases with a homer on Opening Day, that’s almost a guarantee for Star of the Day honors.

Other offensive nominees include: Grand Canyon 3B Travis Metcalf also homered and drove in three runs, going 2-for-5 overall; Scottsdale 3B Ryan Braun went 2-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBIs as the Scorpions beat the Saguaros, 7-3; Phoenix 2B Kevin Melillo went yard and drove in a pair; Grand Canyon’s Craig Stansberry hit the other homer in AFL action on Tuesday, while Scottsdale’s Terry Evans went 2-for-4 with a double and a pair of RBIs.

On the pitching side (if I see that pitchers aren’t winning any Stars of the Day, I’ll start naming PItchers of the Day), Jeff Niemann clearly stood above the rest (and not just because he’s really tall). The Devil Rays prospect tossed three scoreless innings for Phoenix, giving up two hits and a walk while whiffing four. The only other pitcher who went more than one scoreless was Grand Canyon’s Danny Touchet, who got the win for his two innnings of work. He allowed two hits, walked none and struck out three.

Think I left someone out? That’s what comments are for.

Be sure to play our new Arizona Fall League Beat the Streak. Great way to make the offseason go more quickly! I’ve got Trevor Crowe today, though I may have missed my opportunity since he had three hits yesterday.

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